Text-Enable Toll-Free Numbers (TFNs) - Efficient, Inexpensive, and Helpful
Your toll-free number was novel, for a while
You've probably had a toll-free number (TFN) for years now. Customers or members might call it to report outages or ask about court appearances. Or for billing questions or support issues. But in today's world most people don't want to talk, the prefer to text. Texting is more efficient, asynchronous and a side benefit is that it's a lot cheaper for the company. Until now, though, you couldn't use your toll-free number for anything other than calling. Now you can text-enable toll-free numbers and let your members or customers text you on it.
If people want to text, how can I use my toll-free number?
Text-enable toll-free numbers!
When you send a text it will come from that same toll-free number. It keeps your identity consistent - your marketing team will love it. You can put the number on your recordings, brochures, website, anywhere. Just say "Call or text 800.555.1212" so that customers know they can text that number.We have made this incredibly easy for our customers. All you need to do is fill out a simple form and we do the rest. It takes about five business days to complete and once it's done you can start using it immediately. (If you're already using one of our short codes it may take a few minutes for us to reconfigure it, but that'll be quick.)
What does it cost to text-enable toll-free numbers?
We like to think that it doesn't cost - it saves! Think about the cost of a phone call into your toll-free number to report an outage or to ask for customer support. How much does a call cost? How many lines do you have to keep open? When there's a big event how many people do you have to keep ready to answer the phones? Text messaging can be largely automated, eliminating a lot of the expense. The types of messages that can't be automated are still a whole lot less costly to handle by text than by phone.That all said, there's a one-time setup fee and then a small monthly fee. Messages cost the same whether you're sending/receiving them on one of our shared short codes or on your own toll-free number.
Are there any differences between a text-enabled toll-free number and a short code?
Yes. There are mainly two:
The speed of message sending for blast messages (the same message going to lots of people) is slower. It's still fast enough for the vast majority of needs but it is slower than a short code.
Customers should use QUIT instead of STOP when they want to opt-out. There are some technical reasons behind this but the main reason is to help you. When someone texts STOP they won't receive any more messages but we don't get informed by the network. If someone texts QUIT they also don't receive any more messages but TextPower does get informed. When we get informed we remove that number from our opt-in list and then you can sync your database with ours to insure that you don't call that number, either.
So let's get started. Contact us right away to text-enable your toll-free number (TFN). Of course you can check our web page about it. Or send us a text at our toll-free number and see how well it works: text INFO to 888.818.1808